I am a reader. I love to read. I was playing around on Pinterest and thought that I would need to start a reading list. As in, a need to read list. It goes as follows (not in any order):

The Hunger Games-First book bought and read 12/12. Onto Catching Fire and Mockingjay!The Twilight Saga (I started it and want to finish it.)Harry Potter SeriesThe Stepsister SchemeIna May's Guide to ChildbirthLord of the RingsThe HobbitThe Baby CatcherIna May's Guide to BreastfeedingThat is what I have so far but will add and update as I go along.

Don't think me a bad parent, but sometimes I am just too darn lazy to cook anything. So, for a treat (because we truly don't eat there very often), I took Avalon to McDonalds. I like the happy meals a little better. They do add Milk as a drink option and yogurt is put in the Happy Meal. She LOVES yogurt. (I ,of course, got a salad. Boring, I know) But, there are nights where the day gets away from us and, whoops, it's almost 7 pm and time to start winding down. A quick meal is sometimes a drive thru window. I used to go to Swiss Chalet when these nights came upon me, but ours just closed recently and Mcdonalds is right around the corner. (I do wish for a healthier choice and will keep looking for one.)

I don't have a lot of friends. I have a few close ones, a few that I talk to everyday, a few far away ones and a lot of facebook ones. It's not that I don't want a lot of friends, I do. It just seems like a lot of my friendships fizzle out due to either me or the other person not keeping up. Most of the time, I don't mind. I view myself as a loner in that sense. Sometimes though, the lack of close personal friends, the kind that I can call day or night and vent to or ask advice of or just laugh with, makes me very lonely. I am not the most social person. I used to be extremely shy and introverted. I have learned to adapt though. I am better in social situations. I can hold a conversation relatively well without embarassing myself or being too awkward. I can even give advice from time to time. I find that I can express myself better in writing and online better than I can in person. Writing things out gives me a chance to look at what I am saying and revise what I am saying as I go. It allows me to attempt to not be offensive or come off insulting.

My husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday. We were married on 9/9/09 in a ceremony at a small church. The date we wanted was on a Wednesday so we felt that we couldn't do a large church ceremony during the week and have all the people that we wanted to attend. We went to the court house to get the paperwork early in the morning. We had our 2 witnesses with us, Cameron and Steffie. Cameron had been Austin's friend for a long time and Steffie had been my best friend when I was in Germany and had flown over from there for the wedding. They were also our Best Man and Maid of Honor respectively. We were able to get all our paperwork quickly and then headed to the church that we would be married at. The ceremony was short and sweet and we signed our papers and were ready to go. WAIT! That is not the coolest part of the story! Since we were being married on 9/9, there was a news crew at the church who were interviewing couples who were married on that day. We were interviewed and then featured in the news story. That would make the 5th time (I think) that I had been featured on T.V. and the 2nd or 3rd that Austin had been. That is the story of how Austin and I got married on the 9th. Now we have been married for 3 years, have moved three times and had a baby (who is our third child). We didn't plan on threes being the theme of our 3rd anniversary but that seems to be the way it turned out. :-) To celebrate, we went to the "Elephant Bar." This is a restuarant that features Wok and Grill fired dishes that are inspired by Global cuisine. I had the Ahi Tuna Salad and Austin had the BBQ platter featuring Shrimp, Chicken and Steak. It looked really good but I don't think it tasted better than mine.

Movie Review 1: Winter's Bone

A while ago, while listening to the alarm radio, the DJ's were talking about and promoting "The Hunger Games." Whenever they would mention the lead, Jennifer Lawrence, they would say that she had been in the movie "Winter's Bone." I knew her from "X-men: First Class" as Mystique and wondered what the movie "Winter's Bone" was like. Recently, I found the movie on Netflix while browsing for something to watch and saved it. Hubs asked me what I wanted to do last night and I responded with that since I had found it. The movie is about a girl, Ree Dolly, who takes care of her sick mother and two younger siblings while her dad is gone. Her dad is a meth cook and has been missing for some time when the movie starts. A sheriff comes to visit and tells the family that the father missed a court hearing and if he doesn't show up or pay his bond fees, they will lose thier house and land. Ree decides to find her father and goes around asking about where he is. This results in her being warned to stay out and mind her own business and to go home. She continues asking questions and tries to determine the truth of where her father is. I won't spoil the ending and will just share my thoughts on the movie. I found the movie to have good acting but be disjointed in the presentation. The concept of the movie was interesting but left more questions at the end of it than answers. My husband said that sometimes the mark of a good movie is that it leaves you with the question of what if even with the idea that they lived happily ever after but, in this case, I think it left the movie with too many questions and that made the movie, and ending, confusing.

Movie Review #2: Sliding Doors"Sliding Doors" is a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and John Lynch. It is a story about a woman and alternate timelines. The movie starts out with Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) going to work, getting there late and then getting sacked. On her way back home, she misses the subway, gets mugged and then gets home to her boyfriend. What if though, she made it onto the subway, meets a man and makes it home to find her boyfriend cheating on her. That is what this movie explores. In the one timeline, Helen ends up getting 2 jobs while supporting her boyfriend who is writing a novel. In the other, she moves in with a friend, chops and dyes her hair and ends up in a relationship. My thoughts on this movie: It was good. The concept, acting and photography was good. The ending surprised me which was nice because I thought that I had it all figured out 3/4 of the way through.

Okay so really life in my household boils down to the mere fact that we just miss sleep. My smart and beautiful 2 year old is still having difficulty with sleeping at night. I hope this passes sooner rather than later. The only thing left to try is to let her cry it out and self soothe herself back to sleep. I think that is going to be the hardest thing to do. What parent wants to sit and listen to them cry. Any comments or suggestions on how to get through this would be greatly appreciated. I just want to get a good nights sleep. And I am sure my husband would like that too.

I really miss nap time. I miss the days when it was easy to put the little one down and say "sweet dreams" and walk out of the room and know, just KNOW your babe has rolled over and went to sleep.

This doesn't happen so much in my house anymore. My smart, beautiful 2 year old, has decided that naps are not what she wants apart of her day anymore. She desperately needs one, but will refuse to close those beautiful big blue eyes of hers.

It used to mean that mommy got a nap too. Oh well.......we will try again tomorrow.

My husband likes okra. Pickled or Fried the best. At church, I was able to get about 20 fresh, organic okra. I was excited because it is something my husband likes and I am not able to get them for him very often. I had to find a recipe though and after a short search (thanks to my cousin and Pinterest), I found one that was simple and quick.

This recipe doesn't take too many ingredients. Except for the okra and the Garlic Jalepeno Onion Sea Salt, they all should be in your pantry!

Chop off the tops of the okra and then cut them up in 1/3 in slices.

It should look like this when you are done slicing.

Spread your slices out on a foil covered cookie sheet (I usually use my jelly roll pan and it would great as the side keep anything from falling off the pan.)

Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. I also used Garlic, Jalepeno, Onion Sea Salt.

I have a sweet tooth. A pretty big (and surprisingly uncavitied) one. This is my all-time favorite cake. My great-uncle made it for my family about 7 years ago when we were still having family dinners at his house. When I went to Germany, it was a cake that I wanted to bake for a church get-together and everyone enjoyed it. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare and then an hour to bake!